When This Rose Blooms
by RahRahReplica
Summary: A slightly homo-erotic AU fairytale featuring Remus and Sirius. I hope you enjoy!


I read a fanfiction like this and absolutely adored it but idiotically failed to save the URL anywhere and now it is lost to the dark realms of the internet. I did however, remember which story inspired it: Dear Milli by Wilhelm Grimm. After scouring .uk I found it and after reading it I decided to write my own version. It's AU and I've decided to set it in Latvia (don't ask me why, too much influenced by the Shoebox Project most likely) and the Latvian War of Liberation was between 1918 and 1920 so you have some idea of when it was set. As to the boy's respective ages, that is up to how the reader wishes to imagine them. It's only very slightly homo-erotic so hasn't got a very high rating but I decided to be slightly ambiguous at one point in the story ;) And I had lots of fun with foreshadowing and irony and pathetic fallacy and all that jazz. I think my IB English teacher would have been proud of me.

Do enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter nor do I own Dear Milli. The story is inspiration.

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There was once a widow who lived in a desolate village just outside Riga. All she had in the world was a little house and the garden that went with it. Her children had all died, save for one, Remus, whom she loved dearly. He was a good boy; so obedient. He said his prayers before going to bed and in the morning before getting up. With his auburn hair and golden eyes he was considered the most beautiful boy in the village. He did everything well and when danger threatened him, he was always saved. His mother often thought in her heart: My child must have a guardian angel, who goes everywhere with him, even if the angel cannot be seen. But it was not God's will that the happy life they led together should continue, for a terrible war overran the whole country. One fine day the mother and her son were sitting together outside in the sun when a great and terrifying noise reached their ears and looking up they saw a vast cloud of smoke and ashes. The air resounded with screams and gunshots.

"Great God!" cried the mother, "A fearful storm is coming! My dear son, how shall I save you from the wicked men?" 1  
And in her great fear, she decided to send him into the forest where no enemy could follow.  
"Walk straight ahead until you are quite safe," she said putting a piece of cake left over from Sunday into Remus's pocket. "Wait three days and come home; God in his mercy will show you the way."  
She took him to the edge of the forest, kissed him and let him go.

One can imagine how the boy felt at being left all alone. As he went deeper and deeper into the forest, the wind started to blow wildly in the tops of the fir trees. When the thorns took hold of his clothes, he was terrified of the thought that wild beasts had seized him in their jaws and would tear him to pieces. At every step sharp stones cut his feet. The sky clouded over, every trace of blue disappeared, and the storm wind buffeted the branches so hard that they cracked. In the end the boy was so fearful that he could go no further and had to sit down. He said to himself: "Oh, dear God, help your child to go on."

"Pst!"  
The golden-eyed boy started for he felt sure that he had heard a human voice.  
"Pst!" There it was again. He turned and saw a pair of gleaming molten-silver eyes looking at him.  
"Who are you?" He asked the eyes.  
"It doesn't matter who I am, Remus, for I will look after you." And a boy emerged from the bushes, tall and dark with brilliant black hair and berry lips.

The black-haired boy held out his hand and the fairer boy took it and stood up. He noticed the sky had cleared and it was filled with little white clouds and the evening sun was shining on them. He was so absorbed in the pink sky that he didn't see the darker boy's silver eyes rake over his beautiful form. The boy led the other through the forest until nightfall and they reached a plain where there were no more thorns but only soft moss and grass, which soothed Remus's bruised feet.

"Do your feet not hurt?" he asked the mysterious boy.  
He smiled in response, "I don't hurt."  
One by one the stars came out and looking up at them Remus said: "Oh how bright are the nails on the great door of Heaven! What a joy it will be when God opens it!" 2 Remus saw a light shining ahead and as the boys came nearer he realised that it was shining from the window of a little house. The other boy pushed open the door and welcomed Remus inside.  
"You will stay here until all is safe back home and then you will return." The boy said to Remus, "Someone as beautiful as you shouldn't be damaged by Mother Nature, glorious as she is." He sighed and looked at the golden eyes. "Come, let us eat."  
Remus took his cake out of his pocket, giving the other boy more than half, yet when he left the table he felt full.

"I only have one bed, you sleep in it."  
"Oh no," said Remus. "A little straw on the floor will be soft enough for me."  
But the taller boy smiled and pushed him down onto the bed and covered him. Then Remus said his prayers and fell asleep.

Early the next morning, when he opened his eyes, the dark boy was sitting gloomily beside the bed and the sun was shining gloriously through the window. "Come, I will show you everything that is beautiful here." He said seeing that Remus was awake. And they passed the day walking through the glades underneath the beautiful blue sky.  
"Why do you always seem so sad?"  
The black-haired boy seemed to be considering his answer, "Because I know that you'll be leaving soon and then you won't be with me anymore."  
"Could I not come and see you?"  
"I don't think you would want to, Remus."  
"Oh, but I do!"  
The boy bit his lip as he gazed at Remus, his eyes turning almost black.  
"It would be selfish of me." And with that he stomped off, hands in pockets.

Each day passed this way until the end of the third day, when they went on a longer walk than usual.  
"Where are we going?" asked Remus.  
The black-haired boy threw his head back and sighed, "It is time for you to go back to your mother."  
"No!" cried Remus, "No I don't want to. I want to stay with you!" He gripped the other boy's arms, his golden eyes pleading silently. The other boy swallowed unable to look away from those eyes.  
"..I can't – I can't let you." He faltered and pulled Remus to him. "You have no idea…" His breath hitched when he felt the other boy's lips pressed to his neck.  
The silver-eyed boy pushed the other away from him firmly and handed him a rosebud and said: "When this rose blooms I will come for you. Tender for it well."  
And with that he vanished into the trees leaving Remus to make his way back home. When his mother saw him coming she was overjoyed and ran to him and took him in her arms. "Oh my sweet boy, how I have missed you!"

He was also glad to be home but he never forgot his promise to the boy and kept the rosebud in a vase. However, no amount of water or sunlight would make the bud open. Nevertheless, he didn't lose hope that the boy would come back for him. His mother eyed the rosebud suspiciously and wanted to throw it away but Remus refused knowing that his mother cared for his happiness too much to deny him. One fine day, he and his mother sat happily together until nightfall and they went to bed calmly and cheerfully. The next morning when the mother awoke she went to her son's room and found him on his bed with a smile on his face, the rose in full bloom beside him. At this his mother fell to her knees and let out an angry scream, for her son had fallen in love with Death.

Fin

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1&2 Direct quotes from Dear Milli. I just thought it was utterly brilliant and so fitting.

I hope you enjoyed it; I had such fun writing it. Please review! I tend to be favourited a lot for my stories but I love getting personal reviews because it shows that you've taken a bit of time to appreciate me. Makes me feel special :) And you will be rewarded with chocolate digestives with melted marshmallows inside OM NOM NOM and a reply of course. I always reply to my lovely reviewers. Thank you!


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